Source: Annual Congress 2013 –Diagnosis and management of respiratory diseases
Disease area: Airway diseases

Abstract

Background: Growth factors receptors mediate a variety of cellular responses to the environment. Specifically, exposure of lung epithelium to oxidative stress induced by cigarette smoke stimulates aberrant Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (ERBB) family activation.
Aim: As a part of a genome-wide microarray screening analysis, this study’s objective was to evaluate the expression of ERBB1-4 receptors in smokers with or without COPD.
Methods: Lung tissue samples from selected patients were subjected to microarray analysis, and confirmed by Quantitative Real-Time PCR in 45 male subjects: A) 20 COPD patients (GOLD stage II), B) 15 non-COPD smokers and C) 10 non-smokers.
Results: Microarray data analysis revealed that ERBB receptors were elevated, from 1.62-fold to 2.45-fold, in COPD patients compared to non-COPD smokers (p<0.01). Real-Time qPCR verified that COPD patients had higher ERBB1-3 expression levels compared to non-COPD smokers (P_ERBB1<0.001; P_ERBB2=0.003; P_ERBB3=0.003) and non-smokers (P_ERBB1=0.019; P_ERBB2=0.005; P_ERBB3=0.011). On the other hand, ERBB4 mRNA levels gradually increased from non-smokers (0.74±0.19) to non-COPD smokers (1.11±0.05) to COPD patients (1.57±0.28), and were correlated with the degree of airflow obstruction (P_FEV1<0.001).
Conclusions: These data suggest that ERBB1-3 overexpression is possibly related to COPD pathogenesis and not to smoking exposure, while the gradual increase of ERBB4 expression could indicate a direct link between ERBB4 and disease severity.

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E. Neofytou, A. Anagnostis, N. Soulitzis, D. Kampas, I. Tzortzakis, D. Dermitzaki, E. Tzortzaki, N. Siafakas (Heraklion, Greece). Up-regulation of EGFR gene family in COPD patients: Correlation with airway obstruction. Eur Respir J 2013; 42: Suppl. 57, 4167

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